MUMBAI: The government's move to not accept Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes as legal tender may affect the TV industry in a big way. 

A recent media report has estimated that the Indian television industry is to suffer a loss of Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore in advertising revenue as fallout of PM Modi's decision to demonetise close to 86 per cent of liquid cash in the economy.

This is because several advertisers are postponing their campaigns scheduled to air in November and December due to a slowdown in consumer spending, a media buyer informed livemint.com. 

As Colors TV CEO Raj Nayak puts it, “There is disruption in off-take of consumer goods & FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) products.”  According to a press statement shared by Nayak, the situation is also affecting new businesses as most advertisers are “clueless as to how the market will evolve and respond.”

Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia chairman and CEO Ashish Bhasin feels that the reason for the cut back on the marketing spends could be the impact on sales that the demonetisation has had on the FMCG products.

Typically, the October-December quarter is the most active quarter accounting for almost 30 to 40 percent of annual billing in terms of advertising spends. With how things are, that is unlikely to be the case this year, a worried Bhasin said.

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